Monday, April 25, 2011

Gol-gosh-a

Why someone would name their mini-golfcourse after the Hill on which Christ was crucified, I do not know...


Golgotha Fun Park... whoever named this definitely put the MORON in OXYMORON.

Listening to:  Nothing.  But I want the Skype sound to happen.  That means Mark is calling.
Things going on today:  Ward HE, no Mark, rode the 48.
Blessings:  skype.  48's.  

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Art Stuff

Romantic vs. Realist art, compare to academic painting

Romantic Art:
Goya – 3rd of May, 1808 (1814)
Delacroix – Death of Sardanopolis (1830)
Gerricault – Raft of the Medusa (1818)
Turner – Slave Ship (1840)
Bierstadt – Rocky Mountains (1863)

Realist Art:
Daumier – Rue Transonian (1835)
Millet – The Gleaners (1860)
Manet – Olympia (1863)

Academy Art:
Ingres – Le Grande Odalisque (1814)

Subject Matter and Style:

Romantic:
exotic and extravagant drama; round, soft figures, more painterly (think Death of Sardanopolis)
focus on the sublime landscape (think Rocky Mountains)


Realism:
Less exotic and romantic, more down-to-earth and immediate, real life people (think Gleaners)
More harsh technique – use of earth tones and assertive (Think Olympia)
nature was no longer the focal point; people were (also Gleaners)


What did they Share?
A Trend towards Modernism:
political propaganda for modern events (Raft of the Medusa, Third of May, Slave Ship, Rue Transonian)
Both also appreciated the relationship between people and the landscape (think Gleaners and Rocky Mountains)
Both also created competition for the Art Academy in Paris:
Romantic Relationship to Academy: More accepted, but weakened the Academy by drawing in less “ideal” approaches to painting.
Realist Relationship to Academy: Deeply criticized, socialist and politically based
Academy: Focused on ideals in nature and the human form. Fine brushstrokes that did not provide for any use of painterly techniques or abstraction. (Le Grande Odalisque) Little progression, more of the same status quo. No trend towards modernism. Also attempted to maintain a hierarchy in painting: History paintings, portraits, upperclasses came first. Then landscapes and lower classes.

How did they do it?
New Public Exhibitions!
Salons hosted by the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in France; very limited in its selection and style choices
After being rejected from the 1855 Salon, Courbet created his own exhibit called the Pavillion of Realism. This introduced a completely new style that had not been yet accepted by the academy in years past.
Salon des Refuses: established in 1863, “Salon of the Rejected.” Included works by Manet, who later created his own independent exhibition. Impressionists followed suit. As time passed and more opportunities for independent artists to show their work became available, these new styles would become accepted and legitimate in high-class galleries.
These new public exhibitions created competition for the original Academy Salons


Expressionism: Compare/contrast each artist:

Post impressionist Artist: Van Gogh
Paintings: The Starry night (1889)
The Night Cafe (1888)
Symbolist Artist: Munch
Paintings: The Scream (1895)
An Evening on Karl Johann's Gate (1895)
Fauvist Artist: Matisse
Paintings: Joie de Vivre (1905)
The Red Room (Harmony in Red) (1908)
Blue Rider/Bridge Artist: Kandisnky
Paintings: Improvisation 28 (1912)
Blue Mountain (1908)

Style, context, meanings, ideology


Post-Impressionism: Basically a mature form of impressionism. More focus on what makes a painting: line, pattern, form, and color. Many, including Van Gogh, explored expressive capabilities of art. Use of color to convey emotions.
Van Gogh
Starry Night: Chaotic lines and turbulent brush strokes = uncertainty, confusion, and wonder of nature and death.
Night Cafe: supercharged unrest due to bold contrasting colors and humidity created by thick brush strokes

Symbolism: Art no longer represented the real world, but what was in the artist's head. Often, meanings are illusive and mysterious. Very psycholocially based, often dwelling on negative emotions.
Munch
The Scream: Humans are powerless to the forces of death and human emotion. Very negative – depicts lonliness, hopelessnes, and despair. Deviance from visual reality to convey these negative emotions. Curvilinear lines create movement and energy.
Evening on Karl Johann's Gate: shells, not people. Again, loneliness and disillusionment towards society. Difference between what people actually are and what they seem to be.

Fauvism: Emphasis on the happy parts of life, and expression of this happiness through bright, arbitrary color schemes. Lighter subject matter and painting style. Awaken emotion through simple means. Loose style.
Matisse:
Joie De Vivre: Little emphasis is placed on perspective or natural color schemes. Instead of cerebral, “deep” works, he paints pictures that are comfortable, sensual, and alive
Harmony in Red: Re-evaluates the definition of what a painting is. Unique use of color, flatness of forms, rich contrasts. “harmony” created through color.

Blue Riders/Bridge:
Originated in Germany. Artists united in a hope of a more perfect future. Often religious or spiritual goals as they paint.
Kandinsky:
Improvisation 28: An experiment in complete abstraction. Less about the tangible, more about the spiritual. Embraced new scientific discoveries.
Blue Mountain: Simplicity of forms, use of Bavarian Folk ideals, love of horses and spirituality found in color blue.

Architecture:

Darby and Pritchard – Coalbrookdale Bridge (1777)
Barry and Pugin – House of Parliament, London (1835)
Eiffel – Eiffel Tower (1889)
Sullivan – Guarantey Building (1894)
Gaudi – Casa Milla (1907)
Van Der Rohe – Seagram Building (1956)
Wright – Fallingwater (1936)
Johnson – AT &T Building (1980)

Coalbrookdale Bridge:
Darby and Pritchard
Redefined City Life: Iron bridge, inexpensive and strong. Showed anvances in engineering and development of industry. Industrial revolution created new materials that called for mass production and thus a new form of human urban life. Precurser to iron framework underneath urban buildings.

House of Parliament
Barry and Pugin
A revival of Gothic style to fit modern purposes. Celebrated medieval heritage of Britain. Purity and authenticity of religious buildings echoed in a political palace. Wanted to combat the cheap urban developments being created at that time. Older gothic styles had honesty and authentic quality. The layout of the rooms keeps it modern, however.

Eiffel Tower
Eiffel
Build for the Great Exhibition in Paris, it was meant to create a unifying, utopian atmosphere with Paris as the cultural center. Iron framework shows the forward-thinking of France, and at the top of the tower, there are inscriptions that say how far other cities are away from paris – the cultural captial of the world.

Guaranty Building
Sullivan
Truly modern architecture, meant for the urban landscape. Steel interior with terra cotta curtain-wall exterior – cheap and simple. Regularity of windows – all very urban, commercial, and industrial in style. Severe. Form follows function. Thus simplifying architecture in urban areas and redefining city life for many.

Casa Milla
Gaudi
Art nouveau – an attempt to create a utopian society through a oneness with nature in a very sterile, urban world. Architecture became more like sculpture than building. Rooms within the building are almost cell-like, thus alluding to a united and organic synergy of people in an ideal world. A look of erosion and ancient-ness about the work also shows the timelessness of humanity and life.

Seagram Building
Van Der Rohe
Also an attempt to redefine city life. Seagram building is in Iternational style – build for its geometrical stability, glass exterior under a steel skeleton, and its high-rise skyscraper style. Also left a pedestrian plaza, to add some beauty and social atmosphere to the otherwise very sterile urban world.


Fallingwater
Wright
An attempt to create a utopian society by finding a oneness with nature through organic architecture. Building made specific to its site – waterfall going under a cantalievered floorplan, the rocks quarried on site. The idea of the hearth = another utopian claim. It is what unites people, according to Wright, so he included it in a lot of his designs, including this one.

AT&T Building
Johnson
Postmodern Architecture == revives past ideals in a more modern setting. In this case, the use of the pediment looking like a seventeenth-century bedpost or drawer handle adds a blast-from-the-past flavor to the building. Form no longer follows function. Form adds to appeal of the building. Use of negative space to create beauty.

Da Vinci: Last Supper (1495)
Van Eyck: Arnolfini Wedding (1435)
Durer: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1500)
Daumier: Rue Transonian (1834)
Warhol: Maralyn Diptych (1960)
Monet: Rouen Cathedral (1895)
Duchamp: Bicycle Wheel (1913)
Pollock: Number 1, 1950 (1950)

Da Vinci: Last Supper
Fresco: Use of great skill and mastery to complete. Long, arduous process. Thus, it didn't last forever. Instead was replaced by oil paints, which were a lot more user-friendly. The medium contributed to the work's meaning because it showed the timelessness of religious belief. The work was engrained into the wall.


Van Eyck: Arnolfini Wedding
Oil Paint: Good to use for rich color and detail, both of which were really embraced by Van Eyck. Northern Renaissance's realism of particulars and deep Christian Symbolism demanded a medium that allowed for minute detail. Oil paint also gave artists a chance to change their work after it was already on the canvas.

Durer: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Print Medium: Wood Cut. Reqired a great deal of mastery and was replaced by etching and later silkscreen and lithographs. The wood cut allowed for the work to be reproduced in print material, thus allowing for the media to read and understand the work. Durer was a master at shading and detail within the woodcut, so the work is rich in meaning and depth.

Daumier: Rue Transonian
Print Medium: Lithographs. Much easier than other print mediums because it allowed for the artist to draw with a wax crayon in the same manner as a pencil. Rather than cutting out parts you don't need, trying to etch thins into difficult metal, or working with acids, all that was needed was oil, water, ands.

Warhol: Maralyn Diptych
Print Medium: Silkscreen. Excellent choice for Warhol because his intention was to show the timelessness of pop culture. Maralyn's face is reproduced endlessly; mass production reigns rampant in today's society and Warhol is playing off of this concept. Shows the dominance of pop culture in people's lives, and how easy access is for the buying public to get involved in the fame and commonality.

Duchamp: Bicycle Wheel
Readymades: Dada was a short-lived artistic movement that embraced nihilism and anti-art movements. Bicycle wheel demands its medium because it is a found object made into an artistic piece simply through its name. It also was a precursor to mobile art, because of its movable quality. But above all else, it represented Dada beliefs in freedom from society's definition of art and finding aesthetics in common subjects. This movement was short- lived because it became difficult to completely embrace the idea of anti-art in such an artistic world.

Pollock: Number 1, 1950
Gestural Painting: Pollock was unique in his medium because his medium involved the actual gestures involved with painting his works. He combined performance art with visual art. The splashes and dribbles of paint are mere echoes of where Pollock once was painting; a visual record, of sorts, of an artistic endeavor. This adds to the meaning of abstract expressionism because it is not just the art, but the purpose of the art and how it is made that makes it art.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 21 -- A Song I Listen to When I'm Happy

There are a lot of happy songs out there that I listen to when I'm happy.  I also find that happy moments are also the best times to listen to devious music.  P!nk is a happy-moment favorite for me of this kind.






Listening to: See above
Things Going On Today: ASL final, New Testament Final. Yuck.
Blessings: No work, more study.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Judas Priest!

I suppose you'd like to hear my opinions about Lady Gaga's new song JUDAS which was leaked (on purpose?) a few days ago.  I just gotta say, it's like another Bad Romance.  And that can be both a good and a bad thing.  I guess you could say she's sticking with what works.  Judas is just as -- if not more -- catchy than its precursor, Bad Romance.  But does it have to be SO MUCH like Bad Romance?  You could basically play the two songs on top of each other and they will coincide perfectly with each other, down to the "AH-AH"  hooks, the "Oh" interludes, and the climactic four beats of tacet instrumentation as she wails out some epic line.  I also can taste a little PokerFace in there, too.  I mean "I'll bring him down, bring him down down" isn't too far from her "I'll get him hot, show him what I got" from 2009.  I'm beginning to worry that Lady Gaga's becoming a one-trick pony, which is quite a shame, because she shows such promise.  I read one review that summed it up rather well; Gaga's beginning to show her true colors as one who favors style over substance.  Not only is the tune a copy of her older works, but the lyrics seem very thrown together.
It's funny, but I feel like this song is too mild for all the publicity she gave it before it came out.  She ran her mouth about a "cultural baptism" and made a point to show all the religious imagery in the song.  But when you listen to the actual song, there's not much for even the most staunch Bible-thumper to take offense at.  Sounds to me like she's just romanticizing an abusive relationship (sadly, this is becoming a common theme among lady pop artists these days.  Rihanna's S&M?  Katy Perry's ET?  What ever happened to female empowerment?)   Gaga has made a ton of waves by eating a rosary and wearing a cross in provocative places in her Alejandro music video.  I expected this song to keep pulling in the offensive direction, but these lyrics are in no way offensive or profane.  Judas is a bad boy.  That much is certain.  But do we need the slapped-on religious undertones that carry hardly any sting whatsoever?
Once upon a time, I thought Lady Gaga was going to be here forever, like Madonna and Elton and Queen and the Beatles.  Now, I'm not so sure.  All of the revolutionary antics she did for Fame Monster are beginning to quiet down in this sophomore album, and that's usually where the ultimate test for survival in the music world is.  Here's hoping she'll pull through.


Listening to:  Sunshine by Lil' Flip
Things Going On Today:  Lots of studying for finals and eating pie.
Blessings;  This monitor.

keel!

I'm about ready to fall over and die.

That's pretty much it.

listening to: BYOB by System of a Down
things going on today:  Concert choir auditions
blessings:  ...  um...  I get to move in on time.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

EW

List of Complaints:

Things I have to worry about:

My computer screen cracked.  Fortunately, I have this monitor from like 1999 that keeps me alive.  I've talked to my Dad about a new computer, but he didn't necessarily respond in a way that makes me sure I'll get one for my birthday.  Even if he does, my birthday's a very long time away.  It's almost may, and my birthday's in September.  Maybe I can get one while my parents are in town.  *siiiiiigh*

Another epic problem I have to look forward to:  Classes next year.  I haven't even had time to write a victory post about how...
I GOT INTO BYU'S MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAM...
Before I had to face the first major hurdle of my acceptance:  The class load.  As my boyfriend wisely put, now that I'm in their program, the music ed department thinks they own me.  I'll be taking 26 hours of school to fill the 14 credit hours I need to keep my scholarship.  26 hours of school.  And how much time does that leave for work?  Well I've counted it out, and if I stay in women's chorus instead of go to Concert Choir (which would be a sad thing to give up...)  I'll be working... 14.5 hours.  Yikes.  That's a lot less than what I work now...  Will I break even and afford rent?

Speaking of money, I found another problem:  Voice lessons?  They're 380 dollars.  How can I afford those?  I can't!  But I need those credits...  Suck.  How am I going to work through this?

Mark mentioned something I hadn't thought about:  Obviously God wants me to be here, doing what I'm doing.  Maybe I should keep trusting him like I did before, and He'll bless

Speaking of God....

JUDASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS




Listening to: See above.
Things Going On Today: My Boyfriend's birthday, Tucano's, Humanities Final (which I'm sure I'll do just fine on.)
Blessings: My boyfriend.  Free food.  Tests I know I'll pass.

List of Complaints:

Things I have to worry about:

My computer screen cracked.  Fortunately, I have this monitor from like 1999 that keeps me alive.  I've talked to my Dad about a new computer, but he didn't necessarily respond in a way that makes me sure I'll get one for my birthday.  Even if he does, my birthday's a very long time away.  It's almost may, and my birthday's in September.  Maybe I can get one while my parents are in town.  *siiiiiigh*

Another epic problem I have to look forward to:  Classes next year.  I haven't even had time to write a victory post about how...
I GOT INTO BYU'S MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAM...
Before I had to face the first major hurdle of my acceptance:  The class load.  As my boyfriend wisely put, now that I'm in their program, the music ed department thinks they own me.  I'll be taking 26 hours of school to fill the 14 credit hours I need to keep my scholarship.  26 hours of school.  And how much time does that leave for work?  Well I've counted it out, and if I stay in women's chorus instead of go to Concert Choir (which would be a sad thing to give up...)  I'll be working... 14.5 hours.  Yikes.  That's a lot less than what I work now...  Will I break even and afford rent?

Speaking of money, I found another problem:  Voice lessons?  They're 380 dollars.  How can I afford those?  I can't!  But I need those credits...  Suck.  How am I going to work through this?

Mark mentioned something I hadn't thought about:  Obviously God wants me to be here, doing what I'm doing.  Maybe I should keep trusting him like I did before, and He'll bless

Speaking of God....

JUDASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS




Listening to: See above.
Things Going On Today: My Boyfriend's birthday, Tucano's, Humanities Final (which I'm sure I'll do just fine on.)
Blessings: My boyfriend.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

When You're Dreaming with a Broken Heart

I had a dream last night.  I know it's not Friday, but I'm bored and in a typing mood, so here goes:

I dreamed that there was some election going on.  It took place in the basement of a gymnasium somewhere... looked a little like my old high school, where there's a ramp that goes down into where the basketball stadium is.  All along the wall of that ramp, there were campaign posters for people who wanted to be president of something.  The only two people I for sure recognized were Rachel and Jeremy, two people from my ward right now.  I don't think I've ever really talked to either of them in real life.  Anyway, they were co-campaigning.  According to a little sign, the voters were supposed to get a piece of paper, rank it 1 thru 4, and fill in the names of the people we liked according to how we ranked them.  Because I didn't know any of the other candidates, I just randomly put in whatever names I saw for slots 2, 3, and 4 after I put Rachel/Jeremy in number 1.  Then I went farther down the ramp and there were little cans set up on shelves for different acts or levees that were proposed.  We were to drop our spare change into the cans, and whichever ones could raise the most change money would be passed.  I saw Zack down there.  He was putting nickels into a green can, though I don't know what the can was for.

Suddenly I was at an airport.  You know those giant lobby areas where people move in and out and there are little overly-priced restaurants and gift shops all around you?  Yeah I was in that kind of a room at the Colorado airport, which I visited last year on my way home from Utah for the summer.  I had a layover there.  Anyway, I was in a space like that, but I don't know why.

The dream changed again.  Now I was at a BYU field down by the RB, with some friends. We were supposed to be playing softball, but due to some complications and some late arrivals, we weren't starting right away.  I remember this guy named Robert (he's in my ward too).  He was showing me how to slide down banisters.  He could do cool flips and twists as he slid down, and I wanted to try too.  But suddenly Robert needed to go over to the supply room for a moment.  I followed him and when I got there he was crying in pain.  His hand had been injured somehow.  So I held his hand while he cried.  It was a sweet moment (sweet... except I hardly know Robert at all in real life.  If he were to find out about this dream it would probably be really awkward for the both of us).  I just sat there, mending his wounds and being all girlfriend-like to him and everyone kept passing by and asking us if we were dating.  I kept saying no, we aren't.  I was just making him feel better.  No one believed me.

Then this guy named Rusty showed up.  In real life he was the RA for Broadbent hall Spring semester.  I thought he was cool, good dating material.  I hadn't seen him for a long time until very recently when I ran into him at Smiths, and that was a very awkward reunion.  So maybe that's why he was on my mind.  But he showed up in the dream and his nickname was "The Dantom Phantom."  No idea why he was called that, but everyone talked about him that way.  He showed up and told me I wasn't in the proper uniform to play softball, and until I got changed, I couldn't play.  I thought that didn't make any sense, because even as I spoke to him about it, Emily was over on the field already in her little green floral skirt, tights, and tan heels.  No way could you play a hard-core game of softball in that getup. But he wouldn't listen to me.  I felt like I was at work, I needed to wear my jeans and sweatshirt that I always wear when I go to Wymount in the mornings.

Yeah, silly dreams I guess, but I just want to express how funny it is, the people who end up in my dreams.  They are sometimes the most obscure references for me...

Listening to:  Typing.  Which is very fun to listen to when you're on a roll like I am today.
Things Going ON Today:  Probably some visiting teaching, and I think a friend is stopping by to pick up some CDs she needs for a Howard Test.
Blessings:  A shower.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 20 -- A song I listen to when I'm Angry

I don't get angry that often.  Matter of fact I can't remember the last time I listened to music when I was angry.  But I suppose this will do.  It's an angry song.





Listening to: A blow dryer
Things Going On Today: Church, and I practice practice practice for my ASL midterm tomorrow.
Blessings: NO SNOW.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Luck be a Lady...

So something really weird has happened in my life.  My application for the school of music got lost.  Yup.  The faculty LOST my application.  They remember me from interviews, told me that they viewed me very positively, but they can't find my paperwork.  They are humiliated.  I am irritated, but no more than I am amused at just how odd this coincidence is.  I gotta say, I've had a really weird past couple of years.  Stuff has happened to me that I can safely say doesn't happen to most people.  Think about it... who else can say they got their patriarchal blessing twice because it didn't record?  Who else can say they got put in the same apartment as their closest cousin without any work on their own part?  Who else can say that the one man they truly loved got dishonorably sent home from a mission?
Sometimes I wonder why God would do this to me.  Why would He make my life so surreal at times?  Doesn't he know this is hard to deal with?  I have to face problems that no one else ever has to face, so it's hard to seek advice and it's hard to find people who really understand me. And then, of course, there's that age-old question "Why me?" which seems to fit better for my circumstances than it does for most.  Why me?  Why am I the one who doesn't know how to shut up and who's hair just can't get glossy shine I've always wanted?  Why am I the one who gets straight A's, but still can't get into the program I want?  Why am I the one who falls in love with the guy who just won't ever love me back?  These things that happen to me, they're like miracles, except they're sort of sick and twisted.  I'm the one in a million.  I'm the exception to the rule.  Why, God?  Why me?
Well I've figured it out:  God's teaching me patience and endurance.  He understands me so well.  He knows I like to have control over things.  I like to have a plan, a pattern.  I'm a logical thinker, and he knows that if things aren't logical, I panic.  I freak out over the smallest things that go wrong, and I'm always blaming myself for when bad things happen.  So what I gotta learn is that there are things that happen in this life that are completely outside of my control.  I cannot do anything about them.  They just happen because the world is a chaotic place, full of uncertainty, entropy, and mistakes.  They happen.  And I gotta deal.  So I guess the real test here is how I'm gonna endure these one-in-a-million miracles I live through.  Am I just gonna sit here whining "Why me," or am I gonna grin and bear it?  Today I choose to do the latter.  So what, Doc Broomhead?  So what if you lost my application?  No matter what happens -- if you find it or not, if I get accepted or not -- I'll just try out again if I have to, and this time you WILL NOT forget about me.  No, I am not often the one that is left forgotten.
Moral of the story:  I should play in the lottery.  Odds are I'll win.

Listening to:  Nothing
Things going On Today:  Emily sings the breakfast song at Velour, yet another DTR, and some good chinese food.
Blessings:  Snain... or is it row?  That snowy-rainy stuff that doesn't stick to the sidewalks.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 19 -- A Song From My Favorite Album

This one was hard.  What is my favorite album?  I guess it's the one that I listen to most of the songs off of.  And I would have to say that's Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster.  So here's a song I love from that Album...

It's Friday Friday Gotta Get Down on Friday...

Actually it's not Friday.  It's Saturday.  But I do have a dream for you and this one's a doozie!


So I can't remember where it started, but a friend of mine -- Jake --  from freshman year was at my house back home in Minnesota.  I haven't seen him since Thanksgiving, but he's been in a lot of my dreams lately.  His parents were there.  They told me to lie down under their car while they ran over me.  I saw them doing it to Jake earlier and he turned out just fine, but I was still scared.  It took some egging on from his parents before I let myself sink down under their big SUV-sized car. I watched the bottom of the car move above me.  The wheels didn't crush me and it didn't really hurt, but I could definitely feel the pressure on my stomach.  It was like someone was stepping on me, sort of.  Jake was really proud of me, though, for doing it.

Then the dream changed and suddenly I was in some bleachers somewhere before a big event.  I couldn't tell what the event was, but I saw some women's chorus girls there, and my mom, who was talking to a guy in a deaf band (don't know how that one works...).  I was able to talk to him in sign for a little while, about brothers and sisters or something like that.  I recognize all of the signs that I used in the dream.  He looked kind of cute, in a young boy sort of way. His hair was long and straight and almost covered his eyes, and when I saw a picture of them in a newspaper, I noticed that they all looked like that except with different hair color.  I also read in the newspaper that they were opening for Lady Gaga, which made me excited.

Then I went outside and and noticed dusk was setting in.  My roommate's friend Madison was there, planting cheerios, saying they were seeds.  Everyone laughed at her at first, but after a while some popular kids I knew from high school actually started to believe that the Cheerios were seeds and started planting them too.  I laughed at their folly and set fire to all the cheerios.  Now there were a bunch of green flames sprouting from the ground.

The dream changed again.  Now I was in a garage with my roommate's friends girlfriend, Jenny.  It's the kind of garage you would see at a car repair shop, with a bunch of doors next to each other.  She was hiding from someone... someone was chasing her?  I didn't really care if she got caught one way or the other, I was just riding along.  She kept going in an out of each of the garage doors.  I wasn't quite sure what that would accomplish, but I let her do it anyway.

Yup...  I wonder what Freud would think about all this.  He'd probably think I felt sexually pressured by past loves.  My list of past romantic experiences isn't long, but it does include Jake and Jenny's boyfriend.  There also may be this subconscious fear I have with upcoming ASL exams, which I need to ace in order to get an A in the class.  Thus, I sign in my dream.
He might also say that I am suppressing a deep desire to be in the in-crowd.  Madison and those popular kids throwing cheerio-seeds may represent to me the "popular group" that I subconsciously wish I was a part of.  But don't I try to reject what they offer by burning their seeds?  I'm confused at my own self-conscious...


Listening to:  Nothing at the moment.
Things Going On today:  Emily's show, humanities test, ASL video, and a singing recital.
Blessings:  It didn't snow hard enough for me to have to come in to work.  Praise be.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Sheepie...


‘Twas a sheep not a lamb that went astray
In the parable Jesus told.
‘Twas a grown sheep that wandered away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And out on the hilltop, and out in the cold,
‘Twas a sheep the Good Shepherd sought.
Back to the fold and back to the flock,
‘Twas a sheep that the Good Shepherd brought.
Now, why should the sheep be so carefully fed
And cared for even to-day?
Because there is danger if they go wrong,
They will lead the lambs astray.


The lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Where’er they wander–where’er they go.
If the sheep goes wrong, it will not be long
Till the lambs are as wrong as they.



So still with the sheep we must earnestly plead,
For the sake of the lambs to-day.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
The sheep will have to pay!

Listening to:  Cecil O. Samuelson!!  He's on the TV!!  In General Conferences!!  It's surreal...
Things Going On Today:  Obviously, General Conference.  Also a very informal potluck in between sessions.
Blessings:  A prophet, a testimony, and the atonement.